Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries Book 11) (34 page)

With a curse, Liam moved the mouse and rolled back the tape.

Hutch was on the ground, barely moving. God, he hoped Theo hadn’t been the one to do that. Hutch was the funny one, the one who always came through with a joke, but he was also the brilliant one amongst them. He could hack a system with the best. When he’d joined the team, he’d learned how to fly a helicopter because as he’d put it, he didn’t want to be a one-trick pony. Theo had been one of Hutch’s closest friends.

“He’s alive,” Ian said, his voice dark. “You can see him breathing.”

“He was alive then.” Case felt the need to point out a few truths. “We have no idea if he’s alive now. They’ve had hours to do whatever they want to him.”

“She’ll keep him alive. She’ll use him like she’s using Theo.” Alex’s eyes were on the screen.

Case forced himself to watch as Mia was pushed into the camera’s range. She wasn’t alone. One of Theo’s partners had her in his grips. That rat bastard was holding her so tight. “I want to know who he is.”

“I’ve already got Adam on it.” Liam sat back. “He’s got a copy of the tape and he’s putting it through facial recognition. We’ll figure out who the other two are. It might give us another starting point.”

Because they would need one. Because Theo was in the wind.

Because Mia had lied.

He watched as the woman he’d grown to love lied to his face. She’d seen the door open and then Theo had said something to her. He’d shoved her out of camera range and shot twice before disappearing behind that hidden door.

And then Case watched himself rush into the room like a fucking idiot. Theo was right there. He couldn’t have gotten more than a few steps away. The door had barely closed and Mia hadn’t said a word.

Except she had. She’d claimed she had no idea where he’d gone. She’d told him she didn’t know.

Honesty. It was all he’d asked from her.

Anger thrummed through his system, hot and rabid. His brother had been five feet away. Hutch had been taken and he was gone right now because Mia hadn’t opened her mouth and told him where his brother was.

“Case, do not talk to her right now,” Ian ordered. “We’re going to get a drink and discuss what to do about this.”

He barely heard his brother’s words. They didn’t matter. What mattered was looking Mia in the eyes and letting her know what she’d done. She’d cost him everything.

He stalked out into the main room and the minute she turned, she paled.

“Case? I thought you were going to bed.”

“Were you going to try to erase the recording while I was asleep?” He had no idea how far she would have gone to cover her tracks.

“Recording?”

She didn’t know? That was why she’d so confidently manipulated him. The last she’d likely heard before Theo had taken her earpiece had been that Fain had failed to bring the cameras online. According to what he’d heard Li say, Fain might not have known he’d made it work at the last minute. She’d thought she’d been safe and that he would never know how she’d lied. “Fain got the cameras online at the last minute. Or rather he managed to push enough buttons that Hutch’s protocols did the job for him.”

Fain looked up from his computer. “I did?”

“What’s going on?” Lawless asked.

Mia ignored all of it, turning tear-filled eyes his way. “Case, I can explain.”

He heard someone walk into the room behind him. Likely his brother and the rest of the team. It was there in the back of his mind that this might not be the time or the place to have this discussion, but all he could see was how hollow his brother had looked, how still Hutch had been on the ground. His anger was in control and logic had left the building. “You can explain? There’s no explanation for what you did. You let Theo go.”

Those tears started to fall on her cheeks. “He was going to hurt you.”

He should have known she would turn this into some kind of play to save him. “He’d already hurt me. He’s very likely hurting Hutch right now. Did you think about him at all? Did you think about what they would do to him? Or were you so fucking scared for yourself that you didn’t give a damn?”

“Hey!” Lawless was on his feet again.

Mia shook her head. “I wasn’t scared for me. I was scared for you.”

He wasn’t going to listen to that crap. He could take care of himself. He was two hundred and twenty pounds of former Navy SEAL. He didn’t need to hide behind a woman’s skirts. “You knew how much this meant to me. Hutch was under my watch. Mine. He was my fucking man and he’s being tortured right now because you decided to take that choice from me. Did you think for two seconds that if I knew there was a secret door, I could look for other ways in?”

She started to reach for him and then pulled back. “It happened so fast. He said he would be waiting behind that door to shoot you.”

“And I couldn’t have ducked? You couldn’t have told me hey, baby, your brother is laying in wait, you might want to get the jump on him?” He could feel his blood pounding through his system. All of it could have been avoided. Hutch being taken. Theo could be coming home. All of it turned to shit because Mia decided she knew best.

“I couldn’t let him hurt you.”

“Like he hurt you? Like he shot you?”

“It wasn’t the same. He’d already shot you once.” Her voice was shaking and she bit back a sob.

He couldn’t let her manipulate him with tears. “He pulled left. That shot should have hit my heart, but he moved. He was trying to get away, Mia. He was fighting the conditioning and you sent him back to hell. You did that. How can you think for a second that I’ll have anything to do with you after this? That we can have any kind of a future when you do nothing but lie and manipulate?”

“Can we please go somewhere private?”

He knew exactly what would happen if he got “private” with Mia. “So you can fuck me and I won’t care that you cost my brother and my friend their lives? Is that what you plan on doing, Mia? You think you can go down on me and I’ll just forget what you did?”

“Jesus, don’t kill him,” Ian said with a long sigh. “Try to remember he just came out of surgery.”

Lawless stood behind his sister. “Mia, get your things. We’re leaving.”

He braced himself because he knew what happened next. This was when Mia lashed out. This was when she fought back. Her original plan had failed and now she would lash out and then walk off to plot and plan and he would have to be ready for her. He wouldn’t indulge her this time. It was too fucking serious an infraction.

She’d cost him the whole op. The most important op of his life.

He waited for Mia to throw a punch. Instead, she turned and walked out, moving back toward the bedroom they were supposed to have shared.

“Look at me and listen to me well, Taggart.” It looked like it might be her brother who threw the punch. He got right in Case’s face. “I made you that offer months back because I honestly thought you were best for my sister. She loved you and I thought if I could just reach inside that stubborn as shit Taggart brain of yours and tickle your pride a little, you would get off your ass and love her back. I’m only telling you this because I tried that stupid trick but I need you to understand that I’m not attempting to manipulate you now. I mean every fucking word I say. If I see you even come near Mia again, I’m going to kill you. I’ll do it and I’ll get away with it because I’ll find the best lawyer money can buy and believe me, I can buy a lot. If you show up on my doorstep again, I’ll gut you and I won’t think twice about it.”

“You’ll try,” Case shot back. Despite the fact that he was pissed as shit at her, he didn’t like the idea of someone keeping him from her. When he was ready to deal with her again. He needed to not see her face for a few days, for his volcanic rage to die down a bit before he set up completely new ground rules for their relationship.

“Stop it.” Ian stepped between him and Lawless. “Drew, you have to see his point. You would if it were Riley or Bran on the line. He needs some time to think before he shoves his foot in his mouth so hard he can feel it in his ass.”

“I don’t have to see anything, Ian.” Lawless’s eyes were cold. “I’m taking my sister home. I think I can find another security company. Ezra, we’re leaving.”

Ezra got to his feet, the only person in the room who looked perfectly satisfied with the way things had gone. “I’ll put you in touch with my old boss. I’m sure Guy and his group can meet your needs.”

Good fucking riddance.

Mia walked out, her bag in hand. She didn’t look his way.

That pissed him off even more. What the hell game was she playing now? “We’re not done talking.”

Mia kept walking.

“Mia!”

She never looked back.

Lawless followed his sister, Fain hard on their heels.

The door slammed and Case stared at it.

“Fucking shitty day,” Ian cursed. “Alex, we’re going to need a flight home. Case just cost us our ride, a million dollar a year contract, and our children cousins since the next time Mia lets him touch her will be a cold fucking day in hell.”

Alex looked grave as Ian strode out, yelling at Li to join him. “Pray Ian doesn’t get stiffed with the bill for this place. I don’t think his heart will be able to take it.”

Case stared at the spot where Mia had disappeared.

In a few days she would be back. She was just playing him again. One more manipulation.

But she would be back. She would.

She had to.

* * * *

“Are you all right?” Drew sighed and sat down in the chair beside her. “That was a stupid question.”

Was she all right? She was hollow. She was empty.

Case had looked at her like she was a piece of trash. He’d broken that promise to her—that they would talk, that he would stay and fight it out. He’d told her there was no future. He hadn’t even listened to her. He didn’t care that she’d been desperate to save him.

“It’s fine, Drew.” Her voice sounded like a bland monotone. It was all she could do to keep from crying. “I just want to get back to Austin.”

And then she would pack and be gone again. She needed to work. She needed to make things right because Case had been correct about one thing. Hutch was in trouble because she’d chosen Case’s life over his. Hutch had been her partner. He’d been scared. He’d known something was wrong and she’d watched as he walked away and into the trap.

She had to make that right.

“We’ll be there in no time at all.” Ezra sat down beside Drew. “I’ve informed the pilot to get us in the air as soon as possible. And the good news is this pilot checks out. One hundred percent chance of him not trying to murder us.”

“That’s excellent. Could I get a moment alone with my sister?” Drew asked in that polite but firm tone that meant the answer better be yes.

Ezra immediately stood again. “Of course. I’ll go and sit with the pilot. Let me know if you need me at all.”

He stepped away and she was left alone with her brother.

“Mia, I know you loved that man.”

She had, but she should have known. Tony had told her. When the chips were down Case would always choose his family, and she would never be a part of his family. He’d called her princess. Sometimes it felt like a term of affection, but then he was an expert at making her feel good. Even when he didn’t mean a word of it.

But he’d meant it. He thought she was an entitled princess. Poor little rich girl. Who would love her?

“It doesn’t matter.” She stared straight ahead. That’s what she had to think about. Moving forward. One foot in front of the other.

Don’t think about how much she was going to miss him. Don’t think about how he’d looked at her, how he’d hated her.

She’d made the right decision. She’d seen it in Theo’s eyes. He would have done it. He would have killed Case.

Case simply didn’t care enough to stay and fight it out.

He’s very likely hurting Hutch right now. Did you think about him at all? Did you think about what they would do to him? Or were you so fucking scared for yourself that you didn’t give a damn?

He’d thought she’d been considering herself, not him. That’s where his brain had gone. He truly thought she was an overprivileged bitch who only thought of herself. He’d never cared about her. She’d been a means to an end and a convenient lay.

“It does matter, Mia. You matter.” Drew leaned forward. “He’s an ass who can’t see how amazing you are. He was a mistake.”

He hadn’t felt like it at the time. He’d felt like perfection, like she’d finally found the man who fit. “Yes. I’ve proven I have shitty taste in men.”

Maybe she would be better off taking her foster moms’ path. Damn it. Why did she need a dick? Especially one attached to a much larger dick.

God, she was going to miss him. It was an actual ache inside her body. She would feel every mile between them.

“He wasn’t the one for you.” Drew scowled and sat back. “I’m sorry I brought them into our lives.”

She had to clear that up. She couldn’t be the one who cost her brother the plan he’d been working on for years. “You can’t fire Ian Taggart.”

“I already did.”

“Then hire him back. I’ll call him myself. He’s the best in the business and he knows this case like the back of his hand. He’s been working on it for months. Riley’s going to New York soon, or have you changed your mind about taking down Steven Castalano?”

“I’m going to take them all down.” His eyes seemed to go a shade darker, as though the mere act of talking about his revenge could change him from the brother she loved into a predator. “They killed our parents.”

“You can’t prove that.”

“Taggart’s working on the proof.” Drew sighed. “He was working on it.”

Three people had benefited from their parents’ deaths. The same people who had paid an assassin to kill them and cover it all up so they could cash in on Benedict Lawless’s brilliance. “Ian was the one who found the assassin. You can’t fire him. Call him now and offer him the plane I came in on. It’s still here. It can take him and his crew back to Dallas. He’s too good. We need him despite the fact that his brother is a massive ass.”

She wasn’t going to send Riley in without the best backup possible and that was Ian Taggart and his crew. No amount of pride was worth risking her brother’s life.